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Catherine McAuley began her novitiate in preparation to become the first Sister of Mercy on the 8th September 1830. It had been three years since the opening of the House of Mercy and it is recorded that she was reluctant to leave the House, which was very busy with the school, the soup kitchens, visitations and dealing with the constant procession of women and girls presenting for help. Yet, at the time, she had few choices but to accede to the request of Archbishop Murray for the growing ministry in Baggot Street to become a religious order.
This short reflection focuses on Teresa Mulally, the founder of the Presentation Convent in Georges Hill where Catherine undertook her training.
Teresa was a woman after Catherine’s own heart. She had started Catholic schools for poor girls in Dublin in the 1760s. Georges Hill was an area of great poverty and young girls living in the squalid tenements of the area had little hope of an education and a future free of social deprivation. Teresa had been a successful business woman, but after the death of her parents she resolved to devote her life, and her resources, to helping those made poor in Dublin. With the help of the Jesuit priests of St Michan’s Parish, she opened her charity school in 1766. Mulally later added an orphanage and a boarding school to her ministry.
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Yet Teresa was not a religious sister. She had resisted the call to join a religious order concentrating instead on her work. She did however, found a strong connection with Nano Nagle who founded the Presentation Sisters in Cork in 1775. The two corresponded for a number of years and Mulally travelled to Cork to meet Nano Nagle in 1778. Like Catherine, Teresa realised that her work was not sustainable unless it was backed by a religious order and supported by the Church more broadly.
So, Teresa built a convent in 1789 and set about looking for women to found a Presentation congregation in Dublin. In 1794 two novices from Cork came to Dublin to run the convent. By 1796, two more sisters had joined the convent and from there the Presentation Sisters of Dublin were firmly established. Correspondence between Teresa Mulally and Nano Nagle has been preserved and is testament to the friendship between two women who wanted to transform the lives of the poorest people of their communities. Teresa is buried in the vault of the Convent Chapel in Georges Hill. She is regarded as the founder of the Presentation Sisters in Dublin.
Caroline Thompson, Head of Heritage and Spirituality
Note: You can visit George's Hill Convent, which is now a social housing project, when you book a walking tour of Catherine McAuley’s Dublin through Mercy International Centre in Dublin. These tours can be booked again from July 2026 when the House re-opens after Essential Works.